


roadwork ahead? uh, yeah, i sure hope it does

by flydunes



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Australia, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Australian Slang, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, M/M, Pining, Road Trips, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, and there was only one bed, i just wanted to write about my favourite places in australia, mum said it was my turn to write a comfort fic, references to past abuse, the inherent homoromanticism of being in a car with your best friend for two weeks, zoo dates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:08:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29632347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flydunes/pseuds/flydunes
Summary: "hey," comes zuko's rough voice, fuzzy over the phone line. "we should go on a road trip"sokka holds his phone between his shoulder and ear as he leans back in his desk chair and swivels around. "what do you mean?""we should drive. take your ute and go up to queensland. spend a week going up and a week coming back down, or something. you know, during the holidays."***the australian roadtrip au nobody asked for, featuring hyperspecific locales, mariokart 8 deluxe for the nintendo switch, copious amounts of takeaway, and a whole lotta lovin'.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 48
Collections: Zukka Big Bang





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> well, here we have it! welcome to roadwork ahead! the zukka bb has been a really awesome opportunity and i have loved the challenge of writing for it. all the writers, artists and betas have done a phenomenal job, good job to everyone involved!
> 
> a massive thank you to my beta, sin, who managed to catch all my run-on sentences before they got too wild. you've been a massive help and i really appreciate it. i'm still very intimidated by you, but i absolutely love you. if i ever need a beta i'll know who to ask
> 
> and a big thank you to lee, my artist! the banner is incredible and i love it so much, and i eagerly await the art made for this fic! thanks for pinch hitting this one. it's been a pleasure working with you, and congratulations on the success of the event! this was no small feat, and it's super impressive that you were able to pull it off until the very end.
> 
> this is a fic based in australia, and uses very real places that i have been to many times. you can tell where i've been recently/ have stronger memories of because i'm able to describe certain locations better. going on roadtrips to visit family was a big part of my childhood, and i wanted to pay homage to all of it. it's been a long time since i went up to surfer's paradise but most places between melbourne and sydney are very familiar and i really loved writing about them. 
> 
> i acknowledge the traditional custodians of country throughout australia and their connections to land, sea and community. i pay my respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all aboriginal and torres strait islander peoples today.
> 
> and with all that being said, enjoy the fic!

*******

"hey," comes zuko's rough voice, fuzzy over the phone line. “we should go on a road trip."

sokka holds his phone between his shoulder and ear as he leans back in his desk chair and swivels around. "what do you mean?"

"we should drive. take your ute and go up to queensland. spend a week going up and a week coming back down, or something. you know, during the holidays."

sokka looks at the calendar on the wall held up by blu tack and a plastic stick-on wall hook, where the end of term is circled in blue sharpie a few weeks away, and purses his lips. "maybe. will you be on your ps by then?"

"yeah. uncle booked me in for my test this saturday. i haven't asked him if i could go on the trip yet, i only just thought of it."

"valid," sokka replies. "i'll ask my dads in the morning. they'll probably let me go."

"that's good," zuko says, and then he sighs. "uncle might give me a bit of a hard time. or he might let me go. i'll let you know."

"definitely. if anything, i think gran gran might be the one to cancel the whole thing. i'll see what i can do though. keep each other posted?" sokka asks.

zuko lets out a small little chuckle. "keep each other posted. i'll see you tomorrow."

“i’ll see you tomorrow.”

zuko hangs up.

*******

“so,” sokka starts, stabbing a spoon through his just-soggy weetbix. hakoda looks up from the newspaper in his hands, and bato sips his coffee. “zuko wants to go on a road trip during the holidays.”

“with who?” hakoda asks. 

sokka purses his lips. “just me.”

“sounds fun. does he want to go into melbourne and stay for a few days then come back home?” hakoda turns a page of the newspaper. 

before sokka can reply, there’s a series of thumps as katara comes down the stairs. “morning dads, morning sokka,” she says, still tying her hair up into a ponytail. she sets about making gran gran’s morning cup of tea.

over the clattering of katara pottering around the kitchen, sokka takes a breath. “we wanna go up to queensland.”

hakoda glances at bato over his newspaper. puts it down. he’s reading the footy scores from the other night’s game. they seem to have a full conversation with just their eyes and minute jerks of the head. hakoda then looks at sokka. sokka can feel his heart thundering in his chest and-

“queensland?” hakoda says. “you’re gonna need to be more specific than just ‘queensland’.”

“uh,” sokka’s mind blanks. he had just assumed zuko wanted to go to brisbane because of the capital city and all that, but what if he wants to go up to noosa, where his childhood beach house was? or even further up to cairns? “i think he wants to go to brisbane? not sure though. i can ask him.”

bato hums, considering sokka’s words for a moment. “that’s a long drive, sokka. is he even on his ps yet?”

“he’s getting them on saturday. and it’s not like we’re doing the drive all at once, he said he wants to spend the whole two weeks doing this. so, like, yeah, it’ll be a really long trip, but he called me at midnight, i think he really wants this,” sokka says rapidly. 

hakoda glances once more at bato, then narrows his eyes at sokka, and his heart lifts. he always does that when he’s close to agreeing. “we’ll think about it.” aka yes, they’re going, it’s locked in, this is happening.

sokka grins. “yeah, dads. thanks so much.”

katara pipes up from where she’s pouring water into gran gran’s special mug, a horrible salvos buy that sokka and katara had found a few years back. “if sokka’s going on a drive with zuko, can i stay the night at aang’s?” she asks, her eyes full of hope. 

“absolutely not. he’s fifteen and you cannot trust a fifteen year old,” hakoda says immediately. katara’s face falls, and sokka tries (and fails) to contain a grin. hakoda then turns to face him. “good luck convincing your gran gran to let you go, i’m not doing that for you.”

sokka’s grin fades very, very quickly.

*******

“my dads say they’ll think about it, so yes, it’s happening, i can go,” sokka says an hour later, falling into the seat next to zuko. zuko brushes his hair out of his eyes as he turns to face sokka.

“awesome,” he says, and opens his sketchbook. “this’ll be fun.”

“iroh said yes?” sokka asks, a smile stretching across his face. 

zuko nods. “he said it would be good for me to go. ever since father-” he stops, takes a breath to steel himself, then continues, “ever since father went to jail, i’ve apparently been stressed. and yeah, i guess i have, because what if he manages to con his way out or- anyway. uncle thinks it’s a good idea.”

sokka pats zuko on the shoulder. “this is gonna be so epic.”

“never say epic like that ever again.”

“don’t tell me what to do.”

“did you write your essay?”

“shit.”

*******

zuko calls sokka that saturday and breathlessly tells him he got it, he’s a p-plater, and the road trip is on, it’s happening, they’re going, and sokka laughs and tells him he can’t wait, he’s excited, it’s gonna be two bros hanging out, having a good time.

*******

sokka’s practically vibrating with excitement as he waits for zuko on the porch. after what seems like an eternity of popping his phone case off and on, there’s a loud _beep-beep_ as iroh’s silver astra pulls onto the curb. sokka can’t hide his grin as zuko gets out of the passenger seat and waves at sokka. iroh gets out, pops the boot and pulls zuko’s suitcase out.

“hi,” says zuko, his voice tight with anxious delight. sokka just might puke, so he settles for a wave. “we’re doing this, aren’t we?”

sokka swallows. “yep. we sure are.”

despite zuko being his best friend of nearly seven years, he doesn’t quite know what to say. neither does zuko, apparently, because he turns around and rushes to iroh, fussing over the fact that it’s his suitcase, he can carry it, it’s fine.

sokka realises he forgot to clean out his car. not that it’s got a whole lot of shit in it, but he doesn’t exactly want zuko to feel dirty. he slips into the garage, where his preowned ute sits, everything they’ll need for the trip laid out next to it, and opens his car. 

zuko walks into the garage five minutes later to see sokka holding an embarrassing amount of monster cans stuffed into old maccas bags. oops. 

“you’re so gross,” zuko says, and sokka tries to stick him the finger while balancing said monster cans and maccas bags. 

“like you’re any better, mister drinks-too-many-iced-coffees-to-be-alive,” sokka says, throwing everything into the recycling bin. zuko just smirks. 

there’s a rumble as hakoda opens the garage door and grins at the two boys. iroh’s still holding zuko’s suitcase. 

sokka’s ute is a four-door, so there’s plenty of room to squeeze both boys’ suitcases, hakoda’s old work esky and a snack bag in the back seat. any everyday items (zuko’s laptop and sketchbook, sokka’s switch, both their charger cables, two power banks and two metal drink bottles) get put into a bag and squished into the floor in front of the passenger seat. 

katara and gran gran appear in the doorway, both with somewhat somber expressions. sokka feels his nose start to burn, so he looks away from them. zuko puts a hand on his shoulder. 

“we’re ready!” zuko says with far too much gusto. he’s immediately swept up into iroh’s arms.

sokka looks at his feet as hakoda walks up to him. 

“good luck, son. don’t do anything i wouldn’t do,” he says. he sniffs. “i’ll see you soon. make sure you text, okay?”

“yeah,” sokka replies, wishing very much that goodbyes didn’t exist. “i’ll see you in a few weeks.”

hakoda steps forward and wraps his arms around sokka, pulling him in. sokka’s eyes start to burn as well, and oh god, he’s crying. oh no. abort mission, this is a code red. he hugs his dad back, squeezing his eyes shut. 

“stay safe. make good choices,” hakoda says when he finally pulls away. sokka lets out a watery chuckle. 

“will do. take care of katara. don’t let aang in my room while i’m gone.”

zuko and iroh finish their cuddlefest a moment later, and zuko zooms into the passenger seat of the ute. sokka hears zuko blow his nose. 

“okay, well, we’re off,” sokka says, and nods before hoisting himself up into the driver's seat. he shuts the door, rolls down the window and starts the engine. 

iroh and hakoda wave as he pulls out of the driveway, and peels down the street. 

this is it. they’re going. 

and they’re gone.

*******

zuko and sokka have been friends for years; they met in year 7, bonded over having no other friends and being the only not-white kids in the entire school, and just. became best friends. but, despite having been best friends for almost seven years, the first hour of the road trip is spent in silence.

aside from sokka’s hand-made roadtrip playlist of course. 

sokka’s got two hands on the wheel, and zuko is doing something on his phone, god knows what, and the entire thing is just… awkward. sokka’s never known it to be awkward between them (unless you count the times that sokka witnessed ozai yelling his throat out at zuko for inviting someone without his express permission, but sokka doesn’t like to think about that), so this entire situation is a little disconcerting. 

zuko had said, in a relatively small voice, to go down towards seymour, and sokka’s a little confused, but hey, zuko’s the one that wanted to go on this trip for ages, so why not? they’re not really a whole lot to do in seymour; just a few new estates and fancy bigshot shopping centres, to try and be the next bendigo, minus the history.

he slows down as they hit the main town, and then speaks up. 

“where to now, boss?”

“melbourne.”

oh. 

“why melbourne? it’s a bit out of our way, isn’t it?”

“i dunno. thought it would be nice to go to the shops or something,” zuko mumbles, eyes still glued to his phone. sokka wonders what he’s doing. “you wanna go? we’ll get a hotel, stay a night or two, then head out to the gold coast.”

“oh, is that where you want to go?” sokka asks, because, what? zuko never actually told him their end destination. 

zuko finally looks up, and sokka takes a turn onto the freeway to lead them into melbourne. “i never said?”

“nah.”

“oh. oops.”

there’s something so raw about the way zuko said oops with his whole entire heart that sokka can’t help but laugh. 

“what?” 

“nothing. who says oops anymore?”

“shut up.”

sokka just laughs harder, before taking one hand off the steering wheel to vaguely pat zuko’s shoulder. “you’re a dork.”

zuko grumbles something under his breath that sokka can’t hear. “you’re an ass,” he says out loud. “anyway, yeah. gold coast. whenever father took us up to the holiday house in noosa, he and azula would fly. mum always drove me, and we took a night to stay at the gold coast and relax and be by the beach before having to see my father again. i thought it would be nice to do that.”

“you wanna do the theme parks?” 

“mm,” zuko hums, taking a moment to consider sokka’s suggestion. “depends how i feel. maybe, maybe not.”

“fair. anywhere else you have in mind?”

“sydney. just for a few days, i reckon.”

“uh-huh.” ok, adding sydney to the mental itinerary.

“coffs harbour and port macquarie. i’m happy just to stop there.”

there’s a theme here. “so just any major town up the coast?”

“yeah, pretty much.”

sokka just smiles. “easy.”

*******

sokka pulls into the crown towers carpark and stops at the ticket gate. “gross. this shit is like, twenty bucks an hour.”

“father will be pleased his money went to somewhere fancy,” zuko says, completely deadpan. sokka smirks. 

“alright, hand it over.”

zuko passes sokka the sleek black credit card, wong family consolidated logo printed on in a shiny gold, and sokka scoffs. “this card is the most disgusting thing i’ve ever seen in my life.”

he scans the card and the gate opens, so he drives through. “what floor is the room?”

“uh, seventeen.”

zuko had booked the room on the drive in to the city. he had the receptionist on loudspeaker, and sokka had tried not to laugh, cry and/or gag at the prices and features she had listed. 

if zuko had faltered when she asked whether they wanted a king room or a twin room, sokka didn’t notice. 

the receptionist obviously didn’t expect two teenagers to be the ones to have booked the room, so when they walk up the desk, suitcases behind them and dressed in trackies and t-shirts (and sokka in his eight dollar slides from kmart), she’s a little flustered. 

“booking for zuko wong,” zuko says, and the receptionist – joo dee, her name tag reads – looks over the two boys before clicking away at her computer.

“any id?” she asks, and zuko raises an eyebrow before forking over his drivers license. He turned eighteen a week ago – and thank god for that, because it could have been really awkward if both of them were seventeen. sokka’s pretty sure it isn’t even legal to give a hotel room to minors. 

“so for one night in the twin suite, you have access to any and all snacks and nonalcoholic drinks in the bar fridge, they will incur an additional fee. there is also room service, you just have to dial one on the phone provided and provide your room number, and the television has foxtel. checkout is before ten in the morning otherwise there is an additional fee for late checkout. your total comes to three hundred and fifty-nine dollars, would you like to pay upfront or when you checkout?” she rattles off. 

“i’ll pay now. I’ll be checking out in the afternoon, i’m happy to pay the extra then,” zuko says, making eye contact with sokka. he hands over ozai’s credit card, and joo dee’s eyes widen when she sees it. she clears her throat and clicks away some more at her computer. 

“and there you go,” joo dee says, a very obviously fake customer service smile on her face. she hands zuko the card back as well as giving him an envelope. “here’s your room key with brochure and tour guide services. your room is seventeen-twelve. enjoy your stay, and thank you for choosing crown towers.”

zuko walks away without saying a word. sokka just flashes joo dee a smile before hurrying after zuko. 

“that was an experience,” sokka says, and zuko cracks a soft smile. 

“it certainly was. she probably thought we were homeless for a second there.”

“is it the off-brand trackies? i can change into my adidas ones if you want,” sokka jokes. zuko just laughs.

*******

two hours later, sokka and zuko find themselves in the queen victoria markets, simply roaming up and down the aisles of off-brand pokemon toys, patterned socks and bad australian tourist merchandise. zuko already bought himself a giant black hoodie with _AUSTRALIA_ printed on it in green, a giant southern cross decal on the back. the decal will start to peel off in three washes, sokka predicts. he’s pretty sure the hoodie reaches down to zuko’s knees, it’s so big. sokka promised gran gran he’d buy her a nice mug, but he’s not too fussed about finding it here; he’d much rather get something from a more niche location.

all the aisles contain more or less the same stuff, except for the various vintage and second-hand stalls that zuko ducks into. he comes out of one with a black leather jacket, but it’s a little too small for zuko’s broad-shouldered frame. 

“it’s for azula,” zuko says, folding it gently and putting it in his backpack. “i thought she might like a new wardrobe when she leaves the hospital.”

“oh. that’s nice of you,” sokka replies.

zuko hums, then goes a little bit silent, so sokka leaves him to his thoughts. it’s almost six in the evening, and he’s getting a little hungry, so he softly elbows zuko. 

“hungry?” he asks, and zuko shrugs. 

“why not? what do you feel like?”

sokka purses his lips. “dunno. we’ll be living on maccas for a little while, so why not get something kinda fancy?”

“sure thing. kbbq?” zuko offers, and sokka grins. 

“you get me so well.”

zuko quickly pulls up how to get to a random kbbq place – sokka doesn’t know where or what it is, he barely ever comes into melbourne – and then drags sokka out and into the peak hour melbourne streets. 

“azula and her friends dragged me to this specific place in chinatown, we’ll catch a tram to flinders then walk, yeah?” zuko explains as they reach the tram stop and wait. 

“sure. i have no idea where we’re going so you’re the boss.”

zuko smiles softly, then pulls out his phone and headphones. he still uses wired headphones. sokka’s gone through at least three pairs of airpods because he keeps losing them. zuko passes one to sokka, and he takes it. 

fall out boy fills one of sokka’s ears, because _of course_ zuko would listen to them. he doesn’t complain though, just waits for the tram. 

the tram comes a few minutes later, so they step on, and sokka’s almost sorry that he has to take out the earbud. the tram is relatively full, as it might usually be at dinner time on a thursday night, so they stand up. zuko takes to holding on to sokka’s arm while sokka grips the handrail above his head. 

sokka definitely does not flush from the close contact, absolutely not, thank you very much. it’s just the temperature of the tram. 

the tram only gets fuller the closer it gets to flinders street, so sokka and zuko have to press closer together. they end up practically hugging, and sokka and zuko have definitely hugged, they’re not aggressively heterosexual like that, but it’s a compromising situation and it lasts a little longer than it really should, and like this, with zuko pressed into his chest, sokka can feel that zuko is starting to panic. 

“is there an earlier stop we can take?” sokka mumbles, and zuko nods. 

“at the next turn, it means a longer walk.”

“that’s fine. i’d rather walk than be squished in like this.”

the tram turns, then comes to a stop. sokka has to wrestle a little bit to reach the door, and it’s harder with zuko clinging to him, but they make it out of the tram and out into relatively cleaner air.

“so, where are we?” sokka asks, looking around. there’s a river just past the above-ground railway tracks and _oh hey, isn’t that their hotel across the river?_

zuko pulls himself away from sokka, and sokka tries very hard to not miss his warmth. 

“flinders street,” zuko says, “just fairly far down. it’s a bit of a walk, if you don’t mind.”

“not at all.”

zuko navigates the streets like he’s been here a thousand times, and honestly he probably has, so sokka’s just content to trail alongside him, looking around at melbourne’s mishmash of architecture. they turn at the train station and go down what has to be the busiest road sokka has ever walked down his entire life. people are brushing past each other, ready to go home from work or preparing for a night out, and he feels a tad underdressed compared to every other teenagers’ jeans and button ups. zuko drags sokka across a road, and past a strip club that sokka jokingly makes a move to walk into, and past zuko’s quote-unquote “happy place”, the state library. sokka vaguely remembers taking a school excursion there back in grade 4. then zuko turns down a narrow street, just as rife with people, and drags sokka up the stairs to a very large and very classy korean barbeque restaurant. 

the two are seated, and sokka takes one look at the prices on the menu and almost cries. he reconsiders his thought to offer to pay for the food, but in the end zuko takes it out of his hands. they eat, and it’s really good, as it should be considering how expensive it is (sokka will be shocked about the prices forever). zuko then drags sokka back across the city to their hotel, and just like that, their first day away from home is done.

*******

sokka’s mindlessly flicking through foxtel channels and zuko’s doing something on his laptop when zuko speaks up.

“you ready to do this, man?”

sokka tears his eyes away from a program of a white american couple arguing over what shade of cream to paint their walls with to look at zuko. “you know it.”

“i know we’re currently in a hotel, two hundred kays away from bendigo, but it still doesn’t feel real. like i’ll wake up tomorrow back at home,” zuko mumbles. 

“yeah. same. it’s like, we’ve been given all this freedom all of a sudden. we can do whatever we want.”

“you wanna tag a building?” zuko jokes, and sokka laughs. 

“yeah, let me just bring out my many cans of spray paint and find a place that isn’t constantly surrounded by people. how about we tag ‘ _ozai is an asshole_ ’ all over eureka skydeck?”

zuko chuckles, and looks over at sokka. 

“thanks for coming, sokka. i’m really glad you’re here.”

“same, bro. here’s to two bros goin’ across the country.”

zuko smiles softly. “yeah. here’s to two bros.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning for discussions of abuse and panic attacks. more detailed warnings in the end notes

it’s near four in the afternoon when sokka’s stomach starts growling. zuko just spares him a smirk, and returns his eyes to the road. 

“don’t smirk at me, zuko,” he says, clicking away at the buttons on his switch. he figures he might as well get some smash practice in while he has the time. aang’s been gaining on him in terms of skill. that kid is a mean kirby main. sokka’s stomach rumbles again. “i am a growing boy.” he’s definitely a lot taller than zuko, that’s for sure. 

“i don’t doubt that,” zuko says, turning down the obnoxious girly jpop that sokka started playing as soon as they hit the road again. “you’re still hungry after room service brunch?”

god, that brunch. sokka doesn’t think he’ll be able to stop thinking about the small mountain of pancakes, eggs, bacon and toast for years. “it’s what, just past four? prime time for an afternoon snack, don’t you think?”

zuko hums. “we’ll hit glenrowan in half an hour. there’s a maccas there. you don’t mind an early dinner, do you?”

“you said we’ll stop in albury, so we can always just get more food there, right?” sokka asks, and zuko nods. sokka just reaches over to turn the music back up.

“true. alright, dinner in glenrowan, and dessert in albury,” zuko says. 

it’s another half hour before zuko turns off the main highway and into what has to be the busiest middle-of-nowhere mcdonalds he’s ever seen. the carpark is quite full, and there’s a long queue for drive-through, and sokka’s very confused. 

“shoulda known,” zuko mumbles to himself, turning down the music again. sokka glances at him. “it’s the start of the holidays, of course everyone’s leaving.”

oh. yeah, that would explain a lot. “hope you don’t mind a bit of a line,” sokka says, turning off his switch. 

“i don’t think we have much of a choice,” zuko says.

*******

forty entire minutes later, zuko and sokka are sitting in the tray of the ute, bags of food in front of them. zuko snagged a park that let them oversee the entire car park and highway beyond it. naturally, they’re people-watching, and coming up with stories about peoples’ lives.

“yo, look at the mum in the silver four-wheel-drive,” sokka says, giving a small gesture towards the direction of the car, lest he gets caught pointing. “absolute karen, one hundred percent.”

zuko squints a little, searching for the right car, then he snorts. “she’s got the haircut for it. and the window stickers. she’s recently divorced, and taking her kids to sydney to cheer them up. she doesn’t like being around her kids because she’s a workaholic so she’s irrationally angry at every slight inconvenience. dhs will get involved when the kids are teenagers.”

“ouch,” sokka mumbles, before lightly slapping zuko’s arm. “look, she’s getting out, she’s gonna grab her kids and drag them in muttering the whole way, watch.”

the lady gets out of her car, opens the back door for her two younger kids to clamber out, and then holds their wrists and marches them across the carpark. she seems to be talking the entire way into mcdonalds. she’s too far away for sokka or zuko to read her lips, but her furrowed eyebrows and stiffly hunched neck give away exactly what she’s lecturing her kids about – _no nonsense, get what you’re given, don’t be loud._

zuko barks out a laugh as soon as the mcdonalds door is closed, and sokka smirks. “told you.”

“alright, the bloke over there, with his missus,” zuko says, pointing at a portly middle-aged man, thin wife at his side leaving the restaurant. “they’re visiting her parents. the grown-up kids didn’t want to come, but they don’t mind, because they’re happily married and love spending time together. they’ll live in their house until they’re seventy before moving into a retirement village, and their kids will come to have brunch every sunday, and they’ll be happy for the rest of their lives.”

sokka coos. “that’s cute. okay, my turn. mum and dad in the drive-through.” zuko’s head swivels to look at them. “also happily married. he works in the city, she’s stay-at-home. they’re perfectly normal, but one of the kids will be gay and horribly repressed because his parents are so neutral about everything that he’ll be too scared to come out. when he does, the parents will make happy posts about it on facebook and continue to be supportive yet oblivious. they’ll probably ask him how he knows he’s gay without being with another boy before.”

“ooh, good one,” zuko says thickly in-between bites of his burger. sokka takes the time to take a deep sip of his milkshake. “the kid giving out food in the driveway,” he says, and sokka looks. that is one miserable looking employee. “her parents forced her to get a job, but working in a small town doesn’t give many opportunities. she’ll move into melbourne when she’s twenty-two and barely out of uni and party every weekend before she ends up in hospital and swears off that lifestyle. she’ll move back to glenrowan and run a bookstore, or something.”

“or something?”

“i’ve never been into town. i have absolutely no idea what’s there.”

“fair enough.”

zuko fishes the last of his chips out of the little sleeve before putting it into the designated trash bag. “well, i’m just about ready to head back out. do you want another milkshake for the road?”

sokka hums. “sounds good. i’ll come in with you, just give me a sec.” he finishes his food before stuffing everything into the trash bag. he vaults himself over the side of the ute, and brushes his butt off. “are you getting anything?

“i need coffee pretty bad,” zuko says. he sighs. “maccas coffee is shit, but at least it’s caffeine, right?”

sokka lets out a laugh as they make their way through the carpark and into the restaurant. it’s pretty loud in here. zuko beelines for the self-serve kiosks and sokka just leans against it, before realising that the karen from the carpark earlier is sitting right across from them. 

“don’t look, but the karen from earlier is right near us,” he whispers into zuko’s ear, and zuko laughs. 

“is she talking?” he asks, and sokka strains his ears. 

“something something you’d better be good for the rest of the drive, something something no time for this shit, yikes. you were right about dhs getting involved at some point. she’s nasty,” sokka replies. zuko just makes a face. 

“gross. karens should be illegal,” he says, finishing up with the kiosk. he drags sokka over to the queue to wait for food.

“agreed,” sokka says, looking back to the karen. she’s silent now, eating her food while her children excitedly dig through their happy meals and compare toys. 

the two barely have to wait before their order is being called. zuko takes their drinks and passes the milkshake along to sokka, who sips on it happily. 

“so how long until second dinner?” he asks. zuko elbows him.

*******

“and here we are,” zuko says, pointing ahead to a sign. they’re going a hundred kilometres an hour, so sokka only gets a glimpse of ‘ _thank you for visiting victoria_ ’ before the sign flashes by and they’re driving across a bridge. he looks out the passenger side window, only to see the widest river he has ever seen in his life.

“holy shit, this is the murray?” he asks, and zuko hums. 

“yep. i hate this river so much,” zuko says, eyes focused straight ahead. 

“too big?” sokka asks, and zuko nods. the kid’s got megalophobia pretty bad, and sokka can’t blame him. this river is wide as shit. 

they finally cross the bridge, and that’s it. they’re out of victoria. they’re in another state, and this is the furthest sokka has ever been from home, technically. warrnambool, his dad’s holiday location of choice, is probably further from bendigo than the new south wales border, but it’s the thought that counts. 

they pass under a signpost, telling them that they’re five hundred kilometres from sydney, among other locations, and sokka’s eyes train in on one word.

“there’s a city named lamington?” sokka gasps, and zuko lets out a laugh. 

“no. it’s lavington, as in lavatory, because it’s shit, to be honest,” he says, and sokka sighs. 

“damn. i got excited. how’s it shit?”

zuko makes a face. “it’s like they got a concentrated population of gross bogans and shoved them into one town. mum wanted to see what it was like once. she regretted that immediately. real dirty, kinda sad.”

“eurgh. at least albury’s nice. It is nice, right?” sokka asks, and zuko nods. 

sokka looks out the window. they’re not quite in albury yet, the sides of the road still gated by high orange fences. The usual gumtrees are ever so slowly being replaced with greener, denser trees, so sokka can tell they’re getting close to civilisation.

soon, the gates make way for buildings, and they’re in albury. zuko turns off the highway and turns again at a roundabout, and then they’re on the main street. 

albury is quaint, with historical buildings lined up on either side of the road. being a country town with no nightlife, it’s fairly empty. there’s a large line at the mcdonalds drive-through a little further down the road, and some of the restaurants look a little busy, but most buildings are closed. zuko slows down, and pulls into an empty parking spot along the side of the road. sokka looks up at the building in front of them, and his face lights up. 

“we’re getting cold rock?” he asks, and zuko grins. 

“your ice cream awaits,” zuko says. 

sokka practically sprints out of the ute, just remembering to grab his phone, and into the cold rock. 

he’s greeted by the most magnificent sight he’s ever seen in his life: rows of ice creams, buckets of lollies and chocolates and several cold plates for the employees to make their magic. 

zuko strolls in casually behind him. 

“what do you want?” he asks. 

and that’s how, fifteen minutes later, the two find themselves walking through a park, sokka wrangling a large cup with numerous scoops, and zuko casually licking at his single scoop cone. 

zuko strolls off the road and onto a smaller side street, and a street lamp flickers on as they pass under it. the sky is a deep pink, and the sun is setting fast, and the streets away from the main road of albury are quiet. sokka can see the murray river a little ahead of them, and turns to zuko, swallowing down his bite of vanilla ice cream with a small chunk of cherry ripe. 

“i thought you hated the murray?” he asks, and zuko shrugs. 

“i definitely can’t stay there long, but it’s nostalgic, i guess. mum and i came down here all the time,” zuko answers, before shrugging. “i don’t know. i like it, it’s just too big.”

there’s a small playground at the edge of the river, and sokka heads for the swings. zuko trails along after him, and sits on one swing so that he’s facing away from the river. sokka digs the tips of his sneakers into the dirt and swings himself a little bit. 

“what did your mum and you do when going up to noosa?” he asks, looking sidelong at zuko. he’s been friends with zuko for years, but he never talks about these trips. the last one he took was the year after they became friends, before his mum left. sokka never asked about them, because every time he did, zuko would fall quiet. now that zuko’s actively talking about it, he’s taking the chance. 

“we’d stop in a few towns, hang out, just relax, really. anything to avoid seeing dad quickly.”

“did azula ever come along?” sokka stares off at the river. he can’t really bring himself to look at zuko right now.

“a few times. if it was just mum and i, we’d be talking, and having fun, but whenever azula came along, mum was always quiet and didn’t stop as much. azula ended up catching onto it and just went with dad. i guess she preferred bitching about us with dad than sitting in silence.” zuko crunches into his cone morosely. “mum never seemed to like azula too much. i think she reminded her too much of dad.” 

“did they bitch about you? ozai and azula, i mean.”

“azula taunted me about it when we got to the holiday house,” he pitches his voice up, doing a terrifyingly accurate impression of his younger sister. “‘zuzu, dad talked about you. he said you… said y-’”

Zuko falters and stops, and lets out a choked sob. sokka looks at him, startled. zuko puts his head in his hands, dropping his ice cream cone, and takes a shaky breath in. he’s crying. sokka made him cry. 

“shit, zuko, i’m sorry,” he says quickly, putting his cup of ice cream on the ground so that he can kneel in front of zuko. he gently takes hold of his wrists. “i shouldn’t’ve made you think about all that shit. i’m so sorry.”

zuko shakes his head, closing his eyes. sokka let’s go of his wrists so that he can wipe his face. “it’s okay, it’s just…” he takes another shaky breath, interrupted by a small hiccup. “why can’t i have a normal family?” he jokes, giving a watery laugh. 

“you have iroh,” sokka says, and zuko nods. 

“i do. but azula’s in a psych ward, mum’s off… god knows where, doing god knows what, and dad’s locked away. iroh’s my uncle. i live with my uncle! it’s not normal.”

sokka stands up, pulling zuko up with him. he wraps him into a tight hug, resting his chin on zuko’s head. zuko’s arms coil around his waist, and he goes a little too silent, save for tiny sobs that he muffles in sokka’s shirt. 

“you’re okay,” sokka whispers. “you don’t have to be normal. you’re a survivor, and you’re okay, and i’m here for you, yeah?”

zuko nods. he’s still crying, and sokka can feel how wet his shoulder is now. 

“i should take you to warrnambool with us one day. it’s kinda large, but still feels real country. the uni campus there is huge, you know, deakin? i thought about going there for uni. but la trobe is easier. it’s right near home,” sokka rambles. he knows zuko calms down when he can just listen. “the beaches at warrnambool are nice. dad always rents out this place a block away from a real small, secret beach. has been since we were six. we’ll go one day, yeah?”

“yeah,” zuko breathes. his shoulders aren’t shaking, but he still grips onto sokka tightly. 

they stand there, sokka softly talking about his holidays and zuko pressed hard into him, for a while. it’s completely dark when zuko pulls away. he smiles, and his face is really red and he’s got tear tracks across his cheeks, and he sniffs. 

“thanks, sokka,” he says. 

sokka grins. “no problem. feeling better?”

zuko nods. he reaches out for sokka’s shirt, and uses it to wipe his face. 

sokka lurches back with a groan, and zuko cackles. “zuko! ew! gross!”

“i don’t see any tissues here,” zuko says, and smiles, wide and open. “seriously, thank you though. you really helped.”

“it was my fault,” sokka grumbles. zuko punches him in the arm. 

“you’re fine. i think your ice cream is melted. we can get more if you want.”

sokka glances at the cup on the ground, the contents inside completely liquid except for the chunks of chocolate and jelly beans he had mixed in. it looks kind of gross.

“nah. i do feel like chips though. is there a hungry jacks anywhere?”

*******

it’s somewhere around late morning when sokka wakes up. he can hear shuffling and a humming, probably zuko singing to himself as he packs his bag. he yawns, wide and obnoxious, and opens his eyes.

zuko’s humming stops.

“no, please, continue,” sokka says, his morning voice deep and rough, “is that rainbow road?”

zuko grins sheepishly. “you were playing it all of last night, i got it stuck in my head.”

“as you should, it’s great. what time is it?”

“uh.” zuko crosses the small hotel room to his bed and checks his phone. “ten thirty. we’ll leave soon, if you want.”

“no rush. where will we go today?”

“i was thinking just to goulburn. it’s a few hours, maybe five? i do want to stop in holbrook on the way.”

“something fancy there?” sokka is continually amazed by how well zuko knows the drive. like, duh, yeah, of course, but wow.

“big submarine. it’s not even a coastal town, i have no idea why it’s there, but it’s big and cool and i always got pictures standing on it.”

zuko could have just stopped at big submarine, and sokka would be in. now he just wants to see the pictures of tiny zuko standing on a submarine. “we have to go. anywhere else?”

“that’s it for today, i think. lots of driving, sorry.”

“zuko, we’re on a road trip, of course there’s going to be a lot of driving. i can do it.”

“no, no, i don’t want you to bother yourself.”

sokka stares at zuko, unimpressed. “you drove all of yesterday. and had a breakdown. you take it easy, i’ll drive.”

zuko bites his lip, and seems to think for a moment before speaking. “how about we stop halfway. we’ll get off at gundagai, get something to eat, and swap.”

anything to stop zuko from overexerting himself and being an idiot. “sure, sounds good. anything at gundagai?” sokka asks.

“absolutely nothing. mum and i didn’t stop there often, it’s kinda sad.”

“as long as there’s food. i’ll drive first, okay?”

“okay.”

an hour later, sokka drums his fingers on the steering wheel, staring out of the windshield as zuko fiddles with his phone. sokka’s got his meme playlist blaring, the volume loud but not loud enough for zuko to panic. he’s caught zuko singing along to some songs, and there was his brilliant solo of take on me when his voice cracked on the high note and sokka almost crashed the ute because he was laughing so hard. zuko has a nice singing voice, when he’s trying. sokka’s been told he sounds like a chorus of dying cats. doesn’t stop him from belting along to bring me to life like a champion. it’s quiet now, because sokka added hall of the mountain king to the playlist at some point and there aren’t exactly lyrics to sing along to. 

“turn up here,” zuko says out of the blue, pointing to an exit. “they made a bypass past holbrook so you don’t get to see the submarine as you’re driving through anymore. it sucks.”

“who decided that was a good idea,” sokka agrees, taking the exit. “where do i go from here?”

“left at the turn, then straight ahead down the main road. it’s fucking empty until you get to a park, then it’s kids galore. you’ll know where to park when you see it.”

sokka follows zuko’s instructions, and he’s absolutely right. the road is almost deserted, save for a few locals filling up and having a chat at the servo, and then all of a sudden there’s a group of kids running around a large structure submerged halfway into the ground.

“holy shit. you were right, it’s an entire submarine in the ground. how far are we from any sort of water?”

“several hundred kilometres. grab a park, i want a picture of me on it for old times’ sake.”

sokka turns off the main road and into a gravel car park, switching off the car. he and zuko step out, stretching out their backs. it’s barely been an hour since they left albury and already he feels like a geriatric old man.

“you are a geriatric old man,” zuko says, and oh. sokka said that out loud. 

“says you, boomer. you’re an entire eighteen years old, ew,” sokka counters, and zuko smirks. 

“when do you turn eighteen?”

“i dunno, in like, ten years?”

“that explains how you behave,” zuko says, like an asshole, before scampering off. 

when sokka catches up to him, zuko’s already claimed the head of the submarine for himself. various kids are struggling to clamber up and around what sokka assumes is the main “office” of the submarine (he doesn’t know anatomy of submarines, sue him!) so he can only guess that zuko used his epic parkour skills for nefarious deeds, aka totally owning the group of eight year olds. he pulls his phone out of his pocket, and yells for zuko to pose. 

zuko holds his arms above his head, and sokka can see a large smile on his face even through the phone screen. he snaps a few pictures before zuko changes so that he’s putting a simple thumbs up, big grin still plastered on. 

_adorable._

sokka ignores the braincell that pushed that thought to consciousness in favour of snapping as many pictures as he can of zuko before taking a running start to get atop the submarine. 

zuko helps pull him up, and together they stand at the front of the submarine, overlooking the main road. there’s a milkbar across the road, and sokka makes a mental note to get some iced coffee and maybe a pie, if they have one. 

“welcome aboard the s.s. druk, where we will be plowing straight through solid ground until we reach the ocean. please fasten your seatbelts,” zuko says, and sokka snickers. 

“that’s for airplanes. this is a submarine. big difference.”

“i don’t care,” zuko counters, and laughs. “i should show you the photos of me up here as a kid. i never used to be able to get onto this part specifically, so they were always photobombed by random kids, but they were cute.”

“you’re legally required to show me those photos. any picture of little zuko needs to be seen by my own eyeballs,” sokka says.

he glances at zuko. zuko’s got a smile on his face, something large and nostalgic, and his eyes are softer than sokka’s seen in a while. he looks totally and completely at peace. 

sokka wants to see him like that more.

*******

“oh my god, they don’t take card,” zuko says, staring at the sign stuck up at the door to the very, very small rest stop shopping area. “there’s been a system error and all the eftpos machines aren’t working.”

“what the fuck, i don’t have cash on me,” sokka says, looking wistfully through the glass to the tauntingly close kfc. so close, yet still so far. “i just wanted a goddamn krusher.” 

“i don’t have any either. this is so dumb. they don’t even have atms.” zuko looks back to the highway, several suvs and sedans whizzing past. “this is why mum and i never stopped here. gundagai is so cursed.”

“what about the next place? something about a dog?” sokka offers, remembering the signposts on the way here. 

“dog on the tuckerbox? we can stop there, yeah. hopefully they take card, or at least have atms.”

“let’s go, then,” sokka says, making his way back to the ute. 

ten minutes later, sokka is posing obnoxiously in front of a small statue of a dog on a tuckerbox, zuko snapping photos. this copper dog is now his new best friend.

“i love this place. oh, and there’s a gift shop, we have to go in.” sokka points to the larger of four buildings in this entire place. apparently there’s a cafe inside it too.

“maybe they have your gran gran’s mugs.” zuko offers, and sokka grins. 

they enter the small gift shop, all of three aisles full of terrible tourist memorabilia. there are keychains with dogs on them on a spinning rack by the door, and sokka knows they won’t have zuko or sokka’s names, but it’s always fun to look at the jessicas and bradleys. he considers picking a kate one for katara, just to be annoying, but zuko taps him on the shoulder and points to the middle aisle, which is stacked high with mugs, cups, magnets and spoons. 

“yes! thank you, zuko,” sokka says, leaving behind the white-person-name keychain display in favour of wandering over to pick out the perfect mug. he ends up choosing one with a dog, on a tuckerbox, surrounded by a grove of gumtrees, and he holds it to his chest. he turns to find zuko, only to see him holding a bad t-shirt against his chest. 

“too much?” zuko asks, holding the shirt at arm’s length. it’s bright blue with a dog face on it. it’s awful, and sokka loves it. 

“just enough. get me the pink one?”

zuko smirks, picking sokka’s desired shirt out. he slings the shirts over his arm and walks over to the cashier, who is highly amused. 

“good afternoon,” sokka greets, placing the mug on the table. “just these, thanks.”

the cashier rings them up, and zuko pays before sokka has the chance to elbow him out of the way, his own card in hand. sokka glares at him as the cashier sets about wrapping the mug in newspaper. 

zuko just smirks and wanders over to the other cashier, who stands in front of the biggest collection of fancy coffees sokka has ever seen in his life. 

sokka and zuko pile back into the ute a few minutes later, both wearing their matching shirts, coffees in hand. 

sokka tries not to think about how much the blue suits zuko.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _warnings: sokka and zuko discuss the possibility of a woman abusing her kids, and mock her for being a shitty human being. further in the chapter, zuko discusses azula as an instigator of abuse as a result of her own treatment and has a panic attack. sokka then talks him through his panic attack._
> 
> the glen rowan mcdonalds is my favourite place on earth bc when we left to go to sydney when i was a kid, we'd leave at 3am and hit glen rowan by 6 so we'd always stop for breakfast and now i associate that particular maccas with mcmuffins and hash browns and happiness
> 
> also zuko having megalophobia is toooootally not me projecting at alllll. i'm terrified of the murray. driving over it is a nightmare.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the lack of chapter upload yesterday, work absolutely killed me. i'm updating this from beyond the grave (: enjoy me talking about taronga zoo for 4000 words despite having not been to taronga in a very, very, very, very long time.

“holy shit zuko, the ram has balls!” sokka yelled, pointing at the behind of the biggest statue of any sort of ungulate he has ever seen in his life. it’s huge, easily taller than his house back in bendigo, staring over the town of goulburn with its lifeless eyes. sokka read that the eyes have lights in them so it looks absolutely terrifying at night.

zuko sighs, pinching his nose bridge. “it’s a merino. it’s called the big merino, there’s a sign right there. and yes, it has balls.”

sokka giggles as he stretches out his arms and legs. three and a half hours has never felt so long. he pulls his phone out of his pocket and snaps some pictures. “this is the greatest big thing ever.”

“sokka, stop staring at its nuts. that’s gay, dude,” zuko says sarcastically. sokka laughs, then passes his phone to zuko.

“i want some pictures with it. and merchandise. lots of merchandise. i wonder if the merch is anatomically correct too?” 

sometimes sokka doesn’t know how zuko deals with him, especially as he poses under the merino’s proportional _bits_ , and then runs into the gift store inside the merino to check every keychain and snowglobe. zuko’s an absolute champ for dealing with this.

sokka walks out with a snowglobe for katara, a jumper for himself, and a very disgruntled zuko, who had to deal with his near constant dirty jokes and references to furries. sokka likes to think he’s funny. 

“now that i’m almost certain you’re a furry yourself,” zuko jokes, punctuated by a sharp “ _am not!_ ” from sokka, “let’s get dinner. i’ll get us a motel room while we eat.”

they get themselves seated at the kind of sad and dim cafe across the car park from the big merino, and sokka sits himself so that he’s facing the merino’s behind, constantly giggling whenever he looks up. zuko wanders off to the front so that he can order them breakfast for dinner, and comes back to see sokka working on the perfect snapchat of the big merino. 

“you’re despicable,” zuko comments, and sokka swats vaguely at him.

“you’re a buzzkill. let me have this, it’s funny.”

zuko just sighs, and starts tapping away at his phone. 

sokka’s extremely large milkshake comes, followed by zuko’s coffee (looks like someone isn’t sleeping tonight), before zuko sighs and looks up.

“i hate to be the bearer of bad news, but most motels here are fully booked, except for a few rooms that only have one bed,” he says, and sokka tries not to choke on his milkshake.

“you’re joking,” sokka coughs out, thumping at his chest. zuko shakes his head.

“completely serious. how dumb is that.”

sokka makes sure he can actually breathe before speaking again. “i don’t really care. haven’t we shared a bed before?”

“that was at my house that one time, and for one night, and because my father refused to have you on the couch. i don’t want you to be uncomfortable or anything, it’s bad enough that we spend most of the day in the car.”

“zuko. this is only one night, and there aren’t any other options, unless you want to sleep in the tray of the ute, and i really don’t mind.”

zuko takes a deep breath in. “okay. yeah, alright. if you’re sure.”

“i’m sure.”

sokka is then distracted by the full breakfast plate that is placed in front of him. he grins.

*******

zuko plonks his bag on the ground at the foot of the bed. the motel room is nice, the bed relatively spacious, the sunset shading the room a deep orange. 

“zuko, it’s okay,” sokka says, patting zuko on the shoulder as he also puts his bag down. he squats down to fish his switch out of the main pocket. “do you want to play some mariokart to wind down?”

“yeah, that’d be nice. go easy on me?”

“absolutely not.”

sokka wakes up wrapped around zuko, zuko’s head pressed into his chest, their legs tangled together. he’s so warm, and zuko is breathing slowly, peacefully, and sokka tries not to squeeze him, lest he wakes up. 

if anyone asks, he’ll deny for the rest of his life that he just laid there, not interrupting zuko’s sleep; he’ll deny that he pretended to be asleep when zuko started waking up and gently untangled himself from sokka to go to the bathroom. he’ll deny that his heart gave a strong squeeze at zuko’s sleepy, half-conscious face as he came out of the bathroom, toothbrush still shoved in his mouth, to get a change of clothes. 

he’ll tell himself that never happened.

*******

“let’s go to the zoo,” zuko says. he’s on the bed, lying on his back, legs folded up against his chest, elbows resting on his knees, scrolling through his phone. he looks like a turtle. 

sokka shrugs. “sure. is that the big one everyone won’t shut up about?”

“taronga? yep.”

“how do we get there?”

“ferry.”

“ok. let’s go then.”

sokka stands up and stretches, looking down at zuko. 

looking down, because he just got up off the bed that zuko is turtled on. 

_the_ bed. 

_the only_ bed. 

again. 

zuko had been completely silent as he had opened the door to the hotel room, some fancy tall skyscraper in the middle of sydney, and put his stuff down at the foot of the bed, _the only bed_ , and laid down face first on it without another word. 

sokka had just assumed this place was super expensive, and zuko had kind of bought every hotel room they had stayed in thus far, as well as most touristy merchandise, and a fair bit of the food. and a lot of petrol. maybe he was trying to be more savvy with his spending? zuko’s an enigma, and sokka will never figure him out. 

zuko rolls his neck around when he’s standing, then takes the time to stretch out his arms, and back, and sokka just watches him go through the motions. 

they’ve hit a point in the trip where they’re both sleepy and chronically tired, the weight of the fact that they’re eight hundred kilometres from home and by themselves and have driven halfway up the country really starting to kick in. they got to sydney yesterday afternoon, and spent the rest of the afternoon napping before going to a twenty-four hour ramen joint for dinner. then they went back to the hotel and slept some more. 

they woke up in the morning tangled around each other again.

zuko’s been fairly quiet, and sokka doesn’t blame him. after so many days together, seeing no one but themselves, they’re running out of things to say. going to the zoo will be a nice way to get some energy back into them, hopefully.

the two boys pile back into the ute and, following zuko’s extremely robotic gps voice, head towards circular quay. 

what should have been a ten minute drives turns into nearly an hour because holy shit sydney traffic is so nasty, but eventually they make it, laughing maniacally because the gps voice pronounces ‘quay’ as something closer to ‘quarry’, and they’ve just been sitting very stationary for the better part of an hour, and maybe sokka and zuko are going slightly crazy. 

zuko then spends another ten minutes going in circles around a large parking garage, before taking the sharpest and fastest turn sokka has ever experienced in his life in order to grab an empty parking spot before a tiny hyundai getz. 

zuko should become a stunt driver. sokka would watch mad max if zuko was a stunt driver in it. 

zuko leads sokka through the ferry terminal, and eventually they find themselves leaning on the rails of the side of a very large and very yellow ferry, looking out at the sea. 

“i’m very glad neither of us are seasick,” sokka says, and zuko nods. 

“if you were seasick i’d still drag you onto the ferry. this is the best part of going to taronga.”

“if you were seasick i’d hold your hair back while you puked.”

“what if i had my hair tied up?” zuko has his hair tied into the sloppiest bun sokka’s ever seen, and sokka pokes at it. 

“i’d take it down just so i could hold it up.”

“good to know. i’d take your hair down just so it gets into your eyes as you puke.”

sokka rolls his eyes. “good to know.”

the ferry pulls into taronga some time later, and sokka and zuko step off, speedwalking to the gondola so they can get there before any families. not that they’re in direct competition with a lot of people, school holidays don’t start for another few days in new south wales, so there’s not too many families. 

they still get to the gondola first, stepping into one. sokka plasters his cheek against the window so he can see out the side, trying to spot any animals from this high up. the two lightly rib at each other as they take the journey up to the top of the mountain. he gasps as they pass over a large blue pool. 

“there’s penguins?” he asks. 

“of course there’s penguins. every zoo has them.”

sokka turns to zuko, smiling widely. “i love it here already.”

“it’s about the same size as melbourne zoo. their giraffe feeding station is cool. they also have koalas.”

“when was the last time you came here?”

“uhh,” zuko pauses to think. he whispers vaguely to himself. “eight, nine years ago, maybe? everything is probably really different.”

the gondola arrives at the station at the top of the mountain, and zuko and sokka slide out. “do they have anything that melbourne doesn’t have?”

“i dunno. maybe. i think they have bears here.”

“just bears? plain old bears?”

“sun bears, as far as i’m aware. i think they have red pandas, like at melbourne, but it’s in an appropriate enclosure, unlike at melbourne.”

“the panda kept escaping. why didn’t they throw a net around its enclosure?”

“i have no idea. very poor planning, if you ask me.”

sokka grins as they approach the ticket kiosk. zuko pays for two tickets, and two bright pink paper wristbands are put around their wrists. sokka’s going to keep it for nostalgia. 

“so what’s so special about the giraffe enclosure?”

zuko’s eyes light up, and he smiles fondly. “they may have changed it, but the viewing part used to be on a platform high enough that you could feed the giraffes, and take pictures and stuff. a giraffe tried to eat my hair once.”

“i want a giraffe to eat my hair. the wolf tail looks enough like a handful of giraffe food, right?”

“no, you don’t want it to eat your hair,” zuko corrects, smiling, “because it kinda hurts. they will not hesitate to pull your hair from your head, if given the chance. it was still a pretty cool experience. it licked my hand when i gave it some hay.”

“gross.”

“yeah, it smelled pretty bad. and the zookeeper made me wash my hands immediately. but the giraffes are fun. i think they’ve changed it, but i don’t-”

a very loud squawk interrupts zuko, and sokka looks ahead. he realises they’re in the middle of a large area, the main cafe and gift shop on one side, large cages off to the other containing various species of screeching birds. there’s a sign next to the cages advertising the australian walkabout exhibits.

zuko wanders off to one cage, listed as having a few galahs, some lorikeets, various other small brown birds, and a cockatoo. the cockatoo opens its beak and screeches, and holy shit that is loud. 

“i wanted a cockatoo when i was a kid,” zuko says mildly, ignoring the frantic screaming of the birds. they really, really do not know how to shut up. “this is making me consider how bad of an idea that would have been.”

one of the small brown birds flies over to the edge of the cage and hooks its talons on the fencing. sokka has to resist the urge to stroke it. it’s a very fluffy bird, with a yellow belly. 

“a fantail,” zuko reads off the small sign in front of the cage. 

“like the chocolate?” sokka asks. the fantail chirps. “man, this thing is cute.”

“nah. fantales were because of celebrities. this thing has a fan for a tail.”

as if to prove zuko’s point, the bird fluffs out its tail, and oh, yeah, wow, it’s a fan. look at that.

zuko strolls over to the other cage, and sokka follows, only to see that this one has a kookaburra in it, standing tall on a branch in the corner. there’s a crowd of small children at the front of the cage, and sokka hears small snippets of them begging it to talk. 

the bird, unfortunately, refuses to make any noise. 

sokka’s almost tempted to join the kids in heckling the kookaburra, but zuko’s dragging him away to the australian wildlife. the kangaroos and emus are clustered in a very large pen together, and sokka side-eyes the emus as they walk past. he’s not too fond of emus. zuko knows this, so he moves on fairly quickly. they go up a ramp towards the koalas, where there’s a platform that overlooks the tops of a small cluster of eucalyptus trees, and sokka stares intensely until he can see a few koalas huddling on the branches. he points them out to zuko, who smiles. 

“koalas are so stupid,” zuko says, and sokka chokes out a laugh. 

“i mean, yeah, i guess they are?”

“have you seen the video of the koala throwing a tantrum on the floor? they’re so dumb. just climb back up the tree, it’ll be fine.”

sokka shakes his head as they move on. 

the tree kangaroo has (unlike melbourne zoo and their poorly thought out red panda exhibit) an aviary net over the top so that the kangaroos can’t escape, something that sokka points out to zuko’s amusement. 

the australian walkabout is long, but sokka doesn’t mind. zuko looks totally at peace, completely content to just stare out at the animals and listen to sokka reading the signposts with the animal information on them. 

he holds onto sokka’s arm when they go through the nightlife exhibit. his left eye isn’t too good, and his somewhat compromised vision gets pretty bad in the dark, so sokka knows why he’s holding on to his arm. 

it still doesn’t stop a flush from spreading across his cheeks. 

the last few nights waking up in each other’s arms have probably affected his train of thought. zuko’s been touchier, clingier, closer than ever before. maybe it’s the road trip, or the fact that it’s just the two of them, or they aren’t pressured into compulsive heterosexuality by the throes of australian teenage boy culture. maybe it’s all three. 

sokka’s going crazy. 

he lets zuko hold his arm throughout the darkness of the wombat enclosure, and he lets zuko hold onto his arm as they leave the dark cave, and he lets zuko hold onto his arm as they move onto other, more well-lit exhibits. 

zuko doesn’t let go of his arm, and sokka doesn’t pull away.

*******

“the platform’s still there!” zuko cries, pulling sokka along to the stairs so they can clamber up and get a good look at the giraffes. a zookeeper is handing bunches of feed to some kids, a line of which zuko joins. sokka grins. 

a giraffe taking food from your hand and then sniffing said hand for any more little vestiges of food is a very strange experience. its large lips brush right up against sokka’s palm, and it’s blue tongue has a texture somewhat similar to sandpaper. its lips wriggle around and feel like a dog’s sniffing nose, but with more saliva. zuko, feeding the giraffe next to sokka, smiles and rubs its snout with its other hand. 

zuko looks so happy. 

eventually they have to pull away from the feeding station and wash their hands liberally with the provided hand sanitiser. the two hang back and continue to watch the giraffes for a moment, before moving on. 

something runs straight into the back of sokka as they’re slowly making their way through the lemur walk, enough that he stumbles forwards before catching himself. sokka turns back to see a young boy on the ground

“you ok?” he asks, and the kid nods. 

“oh, goodness, i’m so sorry,” a lady rushes up to them, younger daughter in tow, and pulls the boy up. “he didn’t hurt you?”

“no, not at all,” sokka replies. “just startled me, is all.”

“i’m sorry. watch where you’re going next time, gerry!” the mother turns to the kid. she’s gentle with him, her tone less scolding and more reminding. “can you apologise to this young man, please?”

“i’m sorry for running into you!” gerry says, his mischievous smile full of missing teeth. “i was looking at the monkey in the tree.”

“lemur,” the mother corrects fondly. she turns back to sokka and zuko. “again, i’m so sorry. you two make a cute couple, by the way.”

“i-” sokka doesn’t have time to correct her before she’s strolling off, her kids obediently by either side. 

sokka feels a pressure on his hand, and he looks down, only to realise that zuko has just squeezed his hand. 

that he’s been holding this entire time. 

when did that happen? sokka has no memory of zuko holding onto his hand, their fingers threading together, arms swinging softly as they walked. it was definitely after the giraffes, maybe somewhere between the tamarins and gorillas? or was it just after the food market, when they stood deciding if they wanted to eat then or a little bit later, perhaps? he’s brought out of his thoughts by another squeeze. 

“let’s keep going?” zuko offers, a faint blush on his face. 

“yeah, uh- y-yeah. let’s keep going.”

the rest of the lemur walk is a hazy blur. sokka can’t seem to pay attention to the animals, even as zuko points them out, only to the soft heat radiating from zuko’s hand. zuko’s always run warm, but this… it’s almost too much to bear. he feels like his hand is melting. zuko’s fingers are long and thin, and somewhat bony, but his palm is soft. his hand fits into sokka’s perfectly. 

at some point they leave the lemur walk and stroll around to the chimpanzees. their enclosure is large, with a big playset and netting across one side. sokka and zuko just stand and watch for a little while. 

sokka doesn’t really know how to talk right now, but zuko doesn’t seem to mind. 

there’s silence for a few moments, spent just watching the chimps play around. 

then zuko speaks up. 

“is this ok?” he gives a quick squeeze – _is us holding hands ok? can we do this?_

“yeah,” sokka finds himself saying. “it’s ok.”

as dazed as he is, he really, truly doesn’t mind. zuko’s hand is comforting, warm and grounding. it’s familiar. he really likes zuko’s hand. 

sokka tries really hard to pull his head out of his ass so that he can actually focus on the zoo. he likes the zoo. he likes animals in general and doesn’t often get to go to the zoo because he lives so far away from any in victoria. this zoo is fun, and he’s never been here before, and he’d really like to pay attention to these animals now, _if you don’t mind, singular braincell floating around up there._

the two stop for lunch, and end up sharing chips, and zuko takes a large bite of sokka’s burger so sokka gets back at him and steals a few of his nuggets, and things feel normal. like sokka’s brain isn’t melting. like they’re just two bros at the zoo together, on a totally-not-extremely-homoromantic-date. 

conversation is finally able to flow more or less naturally, and by the time they’re sitting down to watch the bird show, sokka is almost able to pretend that zuko’s hand still warm and tight in his own, is completely normal. 

it is normal now, he thinks. this is how it’s always going to be now, isn’t it?

sokka doesn’t want to think about how zuko might go back into his not-so-touchy shell when they go back to school and get swept up in vce exams and graduating high school and sorting out university. 

the bird show is very cool, and sokka definitely doesn’t screech as one of the eagles lands on his head as a part of the performance. zuko laughs extremely hard at him, chokes, and has to spend five minutes downing water to try and not die. 

the rainforest walk is an extremely steep part of the mountain, and zuko holds extra-tight onto sokka’s hand as they stumble down. they finding footing sturdy enough to look up at the birds squawking in the trees overhead and monkeys climbing in nets in their enclosures. they spend a while cooing at the otters and trying to find extremely-well-disguised red pandas. when when they’re wandering over to the big pools sokka saw in the gondola, he realises these are the last few exhibits and their zoo date is almost over. 

sokka decides to get some souvenir pressed pennies, one a penguin and the other a seal. he passes the penguin to zuko.

“for memories, y’know?”

zuko gives an easy grin, wide and bright, and takes the penny.

the seal show is fun and educational, the zookeeper running the show talks a lot about water pollution and fishing lines, and then the seal pretends to be a shark, and the crowd oohs and aahs. sokka can really only think about zuko, the penguin pressed penny in his pocket and the soft smile on his face as he watches the seals. 

zuko stands at the plushies section of the gift shop for a long time, staring up at all the beaded eyes of the various animals on the shelves. sokka wanders off and finds a postcard for katara, a snowglobe for aang, a spoon for bato and an obnoxious puka shell choker for hakoda. he goes back to find zuko standing a mere few centimetres to the left of where sokka left him.

“you should get the lifesize rhino,” sokka whispers into zuko’s ear, and zuko laughs. 

“that’s a great idea. we’ll just strap it to the back of the ute, yeah?”

“that’s the plan.”

zuko eventually decides on getting a red panda plushie, and a little glass figure of a snake for iroh, and they go up to pay. sokka picks up a few cheap bracelets in front of the cashier and adds it to their small pile. 

their things are put into bags and then zuko grips onto sokka’s hand as they make their way to the ferry dock. 

as they stare out at the ocean on the ferry back to sydney, salt spraying in their faces and wind roaring in their ears, sokka decides that he’s in love with zuko.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there was only one bed (oh my god there was only one bed) 
> 
> yes i know the gift shop can only be found at the top of taronga and it doesnt make sense to go back up to the top before going down to leave but i dont care. gift shop for the soul, motherfuckers. plan your zoos better, australia. melbourne zoo needs to step it the fuck up with the red panda exhibit and i will never shut up about it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all temperatures are in celcius. apparently i need to specify that. enjoy!

a few days after their day at the zoo, sokka and zuko find themselves shoving their bags back into the ute and leaving sydney. getting out of the city is kind of a nightmare, because traffic never seems to let up. eventually they’re back onto country roads, listening to sokka’s playlists and letting silence overcome them. 

it’s a nice silence. the three or so full days they spent in sydney served to recharge their batteries and get them ready to keep going for another eight hundred kilometres. after the chaos and business of the city it’s nice to relish in the quiet solace of the grasslands surrounding the city. 

sokka’s got his eyes on the road, and zuko’s playing on his switch, and the only noise in the ute is the rumble of the engine, sokka’s lofi-hip hop playlist coming softly through the speakers, and the music of whatever mariokart course zuko is playing. sokka taps his fingers on the steering wheel to the tune of his playlist, and zuko’s softly humming the mariokart music, and it’s nice. 

it’s really, really nice. 

zuko had decided to just see how far they could get today, so sokka’s expecting to drive all the way up to coffs harbour. they’ve been on the road for a week, and they’ve got a week until they have to be back home for school. sokka knows zuko’s stressing a little bit about the timeline, and he knows they won’t be taking so many pit stops on their way back. the long hours are somewhat droning and boring, but he doesn’t mind. 

zuko’s having a good time, and that’s all sokka cares about. 

rolling hills and gumtrees flash past, as do a few run-down farm houses as they fly further up the hume. the roads in new south wales are sun-bleached and burned from years of harsh sunlight, so sokka’s donned a pair of sunglasses to avoid the bright glare. it’s nearing midday, as they left the city fairly early in the morning, so the sun is high and hot. 

sokka starts seeing signs of human life the closer they get to newcastle, which is of course when the universe decides it hates the two boys. 

there’s a pop, a hiss, and the ute starts to rumble and shake ominously. 

zuko shoots up, staring wide-eyed out the window, and sokka pulls the ute over as calmly as possible (which is not very calmly, but he tries). both of them get out of the ute, and zuko jets for the engine, but there’s no smoke, nor is it particularly overheated. 

one of the back tires is blown, as sokka discovers, and he groans. 

“it’s a tire,” he calls to zuko, who slams the hood shut. 

“do you have tools? even if you had tools for it i don’t think either of us knows how to replace a tire.”

sokka purses his lips. “no tools. we’ll have to tow.”

so that’s how zuko and sokka end up in a random park in newcastle, a few streets away from the mechanic’s, swinging morosely on the swings. zuko’s tapping away at his phone again, barely paying attention to his small motions, and sokka contents himself with looking at zuko. 

hopefully without being creepy. 

he’s totally being creepy, oh god. 

he looks away. 

sokka’s in way over his head. zuko is… well, he’s zuko, and they’ve been best friends for years, and sokka’s pretty sure it’s a little weird to only start liking your best friend after several years. if they were going to date each other, wouldn’t they have done it a few years ago? he’s not even sure zuko likes him back. he’s been clingy and touchy and generally very happy to be around sokka, and it is different from how he behaves at school, so there’s got to be something there, but sokka just isn’t sure. 

zuko lets out a huge sigh, snapping sokka out of his thoughts. 

“this sucks,” he says, and sokka nods. 

“sorry.”

“there’s nothing to be sorry for, dude. just a general observation. thanks for being calm about all of this.”

“well,” sokka starts, slowly, “i figured this was all fixable, and there’s no use panicking too hard. it’s just a tire.”

zuko hums. “true. it’s just a tire. god, i need another break.”

sokka chuckles. “maybe somewhere quiet this time?”

zuko is silent for a few moments. “i was happy to stop through for dinner on the way up, but fuck it, let’s stop in port macquarie. take another day there, and just relax.”

“you mentioned something about it when we first left. what’s it like?”

“it’s full of old people, but it’s got some nice beaches. got a huge retirement village and lawn bowls clubs and old people restaurants. gets fairly busy around summer holidays, but this time of year it should be fairly empty,” zuko explains. 

sokka nods. “sure. how far is it from here?”

“three hours, give or take. sound good?”

“sounds excellent,” sokka says. 

zuko goes quiet again, and returns to his phone, but sokka knows he’s working on booking a hotel room. he looks out at the small street in front of the park as he resumes swinging, and thinks about how soft zuko’s smile was when he thanked him.

*******

they’re back on the road by mid-afternoon, and the sun is bearing down hot. sokka’s already shed his jacket in favour of bearing his arms in his favourite tank top, and zuko’s grumbling away in a t-shirt. they’ve blasted the aircon, but the sun is coming straight in through the windshield, and sokka knows his arms are going to be sunburnt by the end of the day. 

“glad we didn’t come through in summer,” zuko says offhandedly. 

sokka hums. “very true. how hot does it get here?”

“i’ve heard it go up to near fifty on a really bad day,” comes the reply. sokka lets out a low whistle. he has never experienced anything that hot, not even close. bendigo tends to get up to forty degrees a few times during the height of summer, but fifty? dear god no. 

zuko grumbles and rearranges himself as best he can while still having a seatbelt preventing him from getting too comfortable. “i hate the roads here.”

“why are they white? who decided that was a good idea?” sokka groans. “i am blind!”

“don’t let toph hear you say that.”

“toph can suck it. i now declare myself blind. i’m suing the state of new south wales for the damage these roads have caused to my retinas.”

“at least you have sunnies,” zuko says. 

“you… you didn’t pack sunglasses? you knew we were going on a road trip, where you would be providing some of the driving, and never packed sunglasses?” how has sokka not noticed this before. zuko has, quite literally, not worn sunglasses this entire time, now that he thinks about it. he’s crazy. zuko is absolutely crazy. 

“i don’t own a pair.”

“zuko, you’re batshit insane. i’m buying you sunglasses as soon as we hit port macquarie.”

“bold of you to assume port will have sunglasses i like. retirement town, remember?”

“i’ m buying you insanely ugly sunglasses as soon as i can. you are going to wear them because you deserve to be shamed for the damage you have caused to your own retinas.”

“am i going to sue myself?”

“if that’s what it takes.”

zuko chuckles, and the melodic sound of it fills up the ute. sokka feels himself go pink. zuko’s laugh is a really pretty sound. sokka would gladly listen to it for the rest of his life. just a looping sound of zuko’s laugh. 

“oh, did you pack swimmers?” zuko asks after a moment. 

“well, yeah. you said we were going to queensland, of course i brought swimmers.”

“cool,” zuko says, “because i want to stop by the beach at port. it’s nice there. warm oceans.”

“sounds nice.” sokka is very vehemently not thinking about zuko in his swimmers. not now. that’s for future-sokka to deal with. 

the two fall silent again, just listening to sokka’s music.

“i think i’d like to retire in port macquarie,” zuko says. 

“yeah?” sokka would like to retire there too, if it means he can be with zuko for longer. 

“it’s peaceful. you’ll see. i think you’d love it there.”

“sure. i believe you.”

sokka does. 

he goes to turn up the music as their conversation fades away, and half-expects zuko to go back to his game. he doesn’t, though, just keeps staring at the centre console, even as sokka’s arm crosses into his vision. 

he doesn’t go back to his game as sokka returns his arm to the steering wheel and settles in for another round of being-sunburnt-through-the-windshield. his gaze has shifted, though. 

to sokka’s arm. 

sokka considers himself fit. he doesn’t go out of his way to work out, but he likes to play football with some of the other boys at lunchtimes. he often helps aang wrangle his chaotic beast of a dog, appa, into going for a walk, so he’s decently muscled, but not quite enough for zuko to be practically drooling over his arms like he is now. 

that’s when it hits sokka. 

zuko likes him. 

the touches, the cuddles, sharing one bed. zuko’s always been quiet with talking about relationships and romance. he’s never direct. mai told sokka in one of the very few conversations they’ve had that zuko is a bit like a puzzle, and needs to be put together to understand the bigger picture. this whole time, he’s been very quietly, very subtly putting those pieces together _for sokka_. 

zuko likes sokka, and has for a while. 

*******

sokka, true to his word, buys zuko a pair of sunglasses as soon as they enter town. he can’t bring himself to buy an egregious pair like he said he would, because he knows how zuko is with being embarrassed or stared at, so he settles for aviators. 

zuko has no right looking that good, in the dingy service station lighting, staring into a small mirror so warped that his reflection is bent beyond recognition. 

sokka is hopelessly head-over-heels. 

*******

the motel room has one bed, as sokka expected. the walls are a dark brick, but the fairly large living room has a big door that opens to a lush backyard shared with the other inhabitants of the motel so it still feels fairly open. not that there are any other inhabitants, as far as sokka is aware. all the other car spots in front of the respective doors are empty. it’s still hot, only being early evening, and the sun is only just beginning to set, which means the mosquitos will be looking to find a way inside. sokka doesn’t want to go outside just to get bitten to all hell by mosquitos. 

zuko puts his suitcase down on the floor, then walks over to the couch and collapses on it. sokka sits on the armchair in the corner, and digs around on the side table for the television remote. he’s very grateful this place has foxtel. all the television channels in rural regions only ever play the bachelor and reruns of masterchef from 2011, and sokka just wants to watch cartoons. 

there’s a muffled groan from the lump on the couch that is zuko when sokka turns the channel to cartoon network. there’s some cartoon he’s never heard of playing, but zuko just seems happy to have something to stare at that isn’t the road. sokka watches as zuko sits up, hearing him groan again as a few bones pop. 

“you right there, old man?” sokka teases, raising an eyebrow at the glare zuko fixes on sokka. “i was the one driving, i dunno why you’re looking and sounding like death incarnate.”

“i’m tired, leave me alone.”

sokka takes a deep breath, and zuko immediately regrets his words. 

“sokka, sokka no-”

“hi tired-”

“sokka i swear-”

“i’m dad,” sokka finishes with a large grin. zuko makes a noise akin to that of an angry cat. it’s a very adorable sound, but sokka doesn’t voice that particular thought. 

“i hate you.”

“no, you love me.” sokka stops talking. was that too far? he feels like that was too far. zuko likes sokka, yes, he’s sure of that now, but love? that’s a perfectly normal retort to make to that sort of statement, he says it all the time, but now, all of a sudden, he’s overthinking things. sokka tries (and fails) to string a coherent thought together, before he realises that zuko has gone pink and is now staring at the tv like this random new childrens’ cartoon is the most interesting thing he’s ever seen in his life. 

there’s a very, _very_ awkward silence. 

sokka clears his throat. “anyway, uh, what’s for dinner?”

zuko blinks, and seems to come back into himself. “oh, uh, there’s this place at the local bowls club. it’s all-you-can-eat and-”

“done. sold. let’s do it.”

zuko laughs. “okay. that was easy.”

“i will go anywhere and do anything, as long as there is food. you know this. i am weak for all-you-can-eat.”

*******

sokka wakes with a start. it’s dark, with only the flickering light of the tv providing light. he’s on the couch. he remembers lying on the couch, full to the brim after dinner. he remembers how sleepy he was, and he remembers closing his eyes. 

he does not remember lying down, nor does he remember a weight on top of his body. it’s a heavy weight pinning his arms down, yet it’s comfortable and warm. sokka could lie like this forever. 

he blinks, blearily, and tries to look down without disturbing whatever is on top of him, only to find that it’s zuko. 

zuko is passed out, his body on top of sokka’s. at some point after sokka fell asleep, zuko had gotten up, helped sokka lie down, and then laid down on top of him. and now he’s snoring away, blissfully unaware of the small crisis sokka is going through right now. 

and sokka is – well, to put it simply, he’s so goddamn comfortable right now. sure, he’s a little hot because it’s a warm night and zuko is a walking, talking space heater, but zuko’s weight across his torso is extremely comfortable and grounding. he’s got one hand down by his side, and one hand up over sokka’s shoulder, his cheek smushed into sokka’s chest. but the fact that it’s _zuko_ is making sokka kind of freak out. 

sokka’s come to discover that zuko is a cuddlebug. it’s absolutely adorable. 

in the midst of sokka’s thoughts, zuko gives a bit of a grumble and turns his head. his hair is covering his face, so sokka very, very gently pulls one arm out from under zuko and brushes the hair away and out of his eyes.

and zuko-

zuko stirs, and opens his eyes. 

“wha’ time izzit?” he mumbles, words heavily slurred. he blinks heavily, and looks up at sokka. 

his eyes go wide as he sees sokka staring at him. 

“oh. sokka. ‘m sorry.”

sokka’s cheeks are surely a bright shade of red, and the light from the television definitely isn’t hiding that fact. his heart is thudding in his chest. 

he gives a light cough to clear his suddenly very dry throat. “‘s okay. you’re comfortable.”

“yeah?” zuko has no right to be so adorable, his entire face lighting up. he smiles, and rests his head back on sokka’s chest. “good. don’t want you t’ be uncomfy.”

sokka’s heart stops. zuko is so cute. so, so cute. 

he really, really wants to kiss him. 

zuko squirms a little, trying to find the perfect position, but sokka speaks up. 

“we should probably take this to bed. don’t want to wake up sore, do we?” sokka whispers. 

zuko hums, and sokka can feel the rumble of zuko’s chest as he does so. “probably.”

zuko makes no attempt to move, and sokka doesn’t feel like jostling him to force him up, but the base of his neck is starting to hurt and he doesn’t want to be caught with sore muscles when they still have a lot of driving to do. he taps zuko on the shoulder. 

“come on. up. we’re going to bed.”

zuko groans as he pushes himself to sit up, and sokka very purposely ignores the fact that zuko is straddling him. zuko rubs his eyes. “sorry if i overstepped any boundaries.”

“it’s okay. i don’t mind,” sokka says, also sitting up. “like i said, you’re comfortable.”

zuko smiles again, and stands up. sokka reaches for the television remote and switches it off, leaving the motel room in complete darkness. 

sokka’s phone is on the coffee table so he picks it up and uses the light from the screen to get over to the bed. zuko clambers in, but doesn’t bother getting comfortable until sokka is lying down. 

zuko settles himself on sokka’s chest once more, and sokka rests his arms across zuko’s back. 

when he finally gets comfortable, zuko lets out a sigh. 

“goodnight, sokka,” he says. 

“‘night,” sokka replies. he leans his head down and kisses zuko on the crown of his head. 

*******

zuko’s already out of the ute and racing down the sand towards the water when sokka takes the keys out of the ignition. he sighs. zuko hadn’t even put on sunscreen. he gets out at his own pace, gets their beach bag from the backseat, and starts to find a place to put their stuff. 

the beach is almost empty, save for a few smaller groups spread sparsely across the sand. it’s another warm, sunny day, and the ocean is a deep, sparkling blue. zuko had asked if they could go to a particular beach in a small inlet so that they didn’t get buffeted by the waves, to which sokka readily agreed. 

coming from victoria, he doesn’t often see waves, and he’s not used to swimming in oceans this far east where waters can be treacherous. he saw one such beach on the drive in to port macquarie, with high, crashing waves, and he wasn’t about to volunteer to go swimming in there.

sokka puts their bags down in the shade of a tree, fairly far back on the beach, and layers on sunscreen. he keeps an eye out for zuko, who’s now standing waist-deep in the calm water. zuko waves to him, which sokka does back. 

when he’s done being sun-smart (ahem, zuko), he wanders over to join the other boy. the water isn’t freezing cold like every beach in victoria is, and it’s quite pleasant in the hot weather. 

he walks up alongside zuko. 

“this is nice,” he says. 

zuko nods. “told you you’d like it.”

“i never doubted you.”

the two stare out at the vast ocean for a moment, taking in the sounds of the beach. there’s a few kids laughing maniacally fifty metres away, and several birds calling that add to the general beach ambience. the air smells strongly of salt, of course, mixed with something woody from the dense trees along the edge of the sand. it’s genuinely a lovely day, made all the better by zuko’s company. 

that is, before zuko puts a hand flat on his back, and pushes hard. 

sokka stumbles, then loses his balance completely, falling into the water with a splash. he resurfaces, wiping salt water from his eyes, and glares at zuko. 

“you’re so dead.”

“ooh, i’m so scared,” zuko says, completely deadpan. he smirks. “you’ll never take me alive.”

sokka clambers up and runs at zuko, tackling him into the water. he goes under too, but gets up and shakes his hair out of his face. he is a good friend, so he pulls zuko up immediately. 

zuko laughs, slicking his hair back. water streams down his neck, onto his bare chest, and-

sokka needs to _not_ stare at his best-friend-slash-crush’s chest. that’s too much to think about right now. 

zuko sends a wave of water at sokka, and from then on, it’s war. 

the two playfight for a while, neither of them accepting defeat, until eventually the fight dies down. 

sokka, panting heavily by this point, looks up at zuko, who’s busy wringing his long hair out. zuko grins when he notices sokka’s gaze. 

“that was fun,” he says simply before beckoning back to the sand. “we should hydrate.”

“good idea,” sokka agrees. his face feels a gross, crusty kind of wet from the salt, and with the strong sunlight it’s a good idea to drink at least a little bit, and also reapply his sunscreen. 

and get zuko to apply some for the first time today. zuko’s torso is already quite red, though whether it’s from the physical activity or sunburn sokka’s not sure. he’s willing to bet on sunburn, with the way zuko’s developing a deep flush across his nose and cheeks. 

they wade through the water and back up the beach to their stuff, and sokka immediately places the bottle of sunscreen in front of zuko before he can even lift his drink bottle to his lips. 

“you don’t want to go back to school looking like a lobster,” sokka says simply. zuko puts the drink bottle down with a slight glare. 

“okay, mum,” zuko snarks. he grins. “if you can get my back.”

oh god, sokka didn’t sign up for this. 

he busies himself with taking large gulps of water from his own drink bottle and fishing around in his bag for one of the muesli bars he brought along as zuko lathers sunscreen around his face, arms and shoulders. he’s definitely already fairly sunburnt. 

zuko then puts the bottle in front of sokka, and moves himself, sitting cross-legged with his back to sokka. “if you don’t mind,” he says, softly. 

sokka suddenly can’t feel his fingers. he puts his muesli bar, half-eaten, down on the towel they’re using as a mat, and picks up the bottle. 

with shaking hands, he starts to rub the sunscreen on zuko’s back. he starts at the nape of his neck, and zuko shivers. 

sokka stops. 

“that’s bloody cold,” zuko mumbles, and sokka lets out a nervous laugh. 

“good. suffer.”

he continues, slowly massaging the sunscreen into zuko’s skin, and oh, god, this is too intimate. he can’t hear zuko’s breathing over the sound of waves and lightly breaking water, but he likes to think the soft whisper of waves rushing back to the sea are zuko’s soft breaths, that he’s breathing as deep and slow as sokka. 

sokka’s heart is thundering away, and surely zuko can feel it through his fingertips. 

sokka powers through, trying not to come to a rest at zuko’s hips. he tries to just focus on rubbing sunscreen onto his best-friend-slash-crush’s back, like this is something they do everyday. 

the air is thick with tension when sokka finishes, swiping the last bit on sunscreen into a stretch of skin above zuko’s swimming shorts. 

“done,” he says, his voice cracking. 

zuko shuffles back around, and smiles. 

his ears are as red as his nose.

*******

one afternoon of repressed homoromantic tension, a shower, and change of clothes later, zuko and sokka are sitting in the most bizarre restaurant sokka’s ever been to. 

it’s bird-themed. the walls are a garish yellow and covered in decals of tropical leaves, toucans, and parrots, and the menus are covered in birds, with all the food named after bird puns. 

they also only sell pancakes. 

what birds and pancakes have in common, sokka has no idea, but he loves this place. it’s exactly his brand of terrible, and he could see himself eating here for the rest of his life. 

“i hate that this place is so cursed,” zuko says, “because the pancakes are honest-to-god the best in the entire world.”

“that makes it all the more better, zuko!” sokka replies, pointing at zuko. “i absolutely love it here.”

“i thought you would,” zuko grumbles. sokka laughs, and he’s very glad they’re the only people in the small restaurant. “good to know you have terrible taste in aesthetics.”

sokka snorts. “you should never have expected more from me, mate.”

“noted. i will now lower my expectations for the rest of our lives. the expectations are on the floor. nowhere to be seen. forever.”

_for the rest of our lives._ now that’s something sokka can get behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't think the motel i used to stay at in port macquarie that i wrote sokka and zuko staying in is open anymore, or at least i can't find it, and i'm UPSET because i loved that motel so much, and also the pancake place rebranded so it's LESS BIRD-THEMED and i'm EVEN MORE UPSET so let's just pretend port macquarie is stuck in the past and hasn't changed in the six years since i was last there, yeah? yeah, cool. totally not mad at all.


End file.
